Asus EAX1900XT Review

Introduction

Lagging in games? Getting a low FPS? Unable to play those gorgeous new games? Then look no further. With the release of the ASUS EAX1900XT, all of your problems will be solved. ASUS has long been a major supplier of video cards as well as other types of computer hardware. ATI, a Canadian manufacturer of chips, delivers to companies all over the globe. Founded in 1958, ATI is one of the world leaders in the supply of graphics, video and multimedia products for desktop, workstation and notebook PCs, digital televisions, cell phones and game consoles. The ASUS iteration of the X1900XT is aimed at gamers who want performance but don’t want to break the bank at the same time.

Closer Look

When I received this new card, I stopped in the middle of ripping open the package to take a look at the box art, and let me tell you that this card comes with some artwork! Depicting an armor clad, gun-toting marine, this box is just emanating that 'hardcore' feel.

After opening up the box I got to see this beast of a card. Shipped in a nice little foam section, with all the hookups and software in their own compartments, gave me a peace of mind as to the quality of this product. After unpacking all of the supplied goodies, I had to step back and take a moment. This baby ships jam packed with extra goodies: software, all the adaptor cables, as well as 2 DVI adaptors.

Looking at the card itself, I noticed the sword-toting Ruby depicted on the card’s cooler. And what a cooler it is! Unlike most, this is a double wide card, meaning that it takes up two expansion slots, one for the card, and another for the cooler.

The card has the standard 2 DVI ports on the back, as well as an HDTV port (through supplied adaptor). There is also the second expansion slot for exhaust from the cooler.

Installation

Here at OCC, installing new video cards and hardware has become a daily activity and a new video card is by far one of the simplest. Remove the side panel from your case, unscrew the holding screw (with the PC off of course!). Pop out old card, put the new card into the old card’s slot. Keep in mind that with this card, you will also need to remove an additional expansion slot cover. Then secure the card with 2 screws, put the side panel back on, and boot your machine. Once the machine is booted, you will need to uninstall your old video card drivers and install the new ones supplied on the CD, or in our case, the latest ones from the ATI website. Boom, your new card is installed and ready to ROCK, or in our case, benchmark!

Here at OCC we strive to be different. We like to offer a unique series of tests, and what we feel is a uniform form of testing. Without further ado, here are the results from the Asus X1900XT.

Benchmark: Far Cry

To kickoff our benchmarking, we will be using Far Cry. All games will be tested at the following resolutions (800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024)

Settings

Maximum quality option, Direct3D rendered

Level: Volcano, demo: Volcano.tmd

Pixel shader: model 2.0b

Antialiasing: 4×

Anisotropic filtering: 8×

HDR: disabled

Geometry Instancing: disabled

Normal-maps compression: disabled

Benchmark: F.E.A.R

F.E.A.R. is one of the newer First person shooters on the market. This game has its own benchmark built into the game, which we took full use of.

Settings

FSAA: x4

Anisotropic: x16

Effects: Max

Computer: High

Soft Shadow: Off

Here the framerate is playable but numbers are not overly impressive.
Settings

Graphics: High Quality

Antialiasing: x4

Advanced Options: Enabled

We have left Doom 3 with a cap of 60 FPS. The card does an outstanding job at holding it, even at higher resolutions.

Benchmark: Call Of Duty 2

Settings

Anti-aliasing: x4

Texture Filter: Trilinear

Call of Duty 2 comes off at a fairly high framerate. The complex weather and environments do not slow down the X1900 as it continues to shine.

Quake 4 is the latest installment in the Quake series, though it used a slightly modified Doom 3 Engine.

Settings

Demo: guru5.demo

Quality: High

Aspect Ratio: [4:3]

Antialiasing: 4×

Anisotropic filtering: 16×

Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) disabled

Benchmark: Need For Speed: Most Wanted

Need For Speed: Most Wanted is the latest addition to the Need For Speed series and is definitely one of the most graphics hungry.

In the final benchmark in our series, it is shown that the X1900 holds its own against the 7900GT

Conclusion

As you have just seen, this card definitely shines in some aspects. I was a little skeptical at first, since some of the framerates were close to the 7900GT. Regardless of whether it was losing or excelling in some of the tests, or simply holding its own, this X1900XT is not a bad performer. A decent price definitely makes this card a great choice. A merger of both performance and cost, this card will make a more than worthwhile upgrade for not only the average user, but also someone who is looking for cutting edge performance. One last thing that I have to point out is that the higher the resolution, the more the ATI shines. Therefore, if you are a gamer that plays at 1024x768 or lower resolution, you may not want to purchase this card as you will not be using it to its full potential.